Destiny's Darlings Unbeaten Tennessee, No. 1 in the bowl rankings if not in the eyes of insiders, ripped Kentucky to prove it can be as good as it is lucky

Faced with meeting No. 1 Tennessee on the road after anemotionally draining week for his team, Kentucky coach Hal Mummegathered his players in the cramped visitors' locker room atNeyland Stadium last Saturday afternoon just before kickoff andread words that he had taken from Scripture and scribbled in hisown hand at the bottom of his offensive play sheet. Mummerecited the first verse of Psalm 144: Blessed be the Lord mystrength, which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers tofight. Then he shouted, "We've got a fight on our hands today.Let's take it to them."

Think of these words as an attempt to level the spiritual playingfield, because only a day earlier Mumme had described theVolunteers' magical, unbeaten season as the work of forces farbeyond football. "They've had so many breaks," Mumme said. "Imean, Tennessee may beat the hell out of us, but Florida is abetter team; better athletes, better coached. It's likeTennessee is touched by Divine Providence or something."

The record will show that the Vols did, in fact, beat the hellout of Kentucky, 59-21, and that the Wildcats played very muchas you might expect after they'd spent their week attendingfunerals for a teammate and for a friend of quarterback TimCouch's. Both were killed in a Nov. 15 truck accident in whichthe truck driver was Kentucky's starting center, Jason Watts,who was charged with drunk driving and second-degreemanslaughter while recuperating from his injuries in a Lexingtonhospital. The victory guaranteed Tennessee a place in the SECchampionship game (against Arkansas or Mississippi State) onDec. 5 and moved the Volunteers one step closer to a place inthe Fiesta Bowl national championship showdown. Yet Mummeremained among the unconverted. "We played so poorly that Idon't know if it was us or them," he said after the rout.

It truly is lonely at the top of the college football world thisfall. Tennessee is in its third consecutive week as the top teamin the Bowl Championship Series rankings, yet much like itsunbeaten brethren, No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 Kansas State, it's heldin suspicion, not just by Mumme but also by a public that seemsto be waiting for a conventional superpower to arise from therubble and expose all three of them as pretenders. That's notlikely to happen. One thing is certain: It's a season for simplystaying alive until January, and no team has stayed alive likethe Vols.

On Sept. 5 Tennessee escaped Syracuse's Carrier Dome when juniorquarterback Tee Martin, making his first start, led agame-winning drive that benefited from a controversialfourth-and-seven interference call. The Volunteers gave up 409passing yards to Florida and won in overtime when the Gatorsnarrowly missed a 32-yard field goal. Most remarkably, Tennesseebeat previously undefeated Arkansas on Nov. 14 when Hogsquarterback Clint Stoerner fumbled during a closing series inwhich he could have run out the clock. Such Disneyesquevictories have given Tennessee immeasurable confidence."Destiny, luck, something," says junior linebacker RaynochThompson. "I knew we were going to win the Arkansas game. I wastrying to figure out how when their quarterback dropped the ball."

Yet to dismiss the Volunteers as the luckiest team in America isunfair. They deserve the No. 1 ranking precisely because they'rethe Private Ryans of survival. Florida State and Ohio State,arguably the country's two best teams, played horrifically insuffering their lone loss of the season. Tennessee has playedhorrifically and won (17-9 at Auburn on Oct. 3).

It's more than magic that moves the Vols. On Saturday they playedwithout the injured Al Wilson, the soul of a defense that hadallowed only 15.3 points per game coming in, and still jumpedall over the potent Kentucky passing game. Tennessee came out ina nickel package and blitzed hard over backup Wildcats centerAaron Daniel. The Vols baffled Couch by showing man coverage andthen bailing out into zone, and then showing zone and rollinginto tight man. "Couch was confused, you could tell," saidTennessee senior cornerback Steve Johnson. As a result Couchthrew for a very quiet 337 yards and two touchdowns.

The Vols' defense comprises a solid front four and terrificlinebackers led by Thompson and the hyperkinetic Wilson, who hasbeen the best linebacker in the country and whose exclusion fromthe list of Butkus Award finalists (Chris Claiborne of USC,Jevon Kearse of Florida and Dat Nguyen of Texas A&M) is a shame.Despite the din created by 107,252 fans in full throat,Tennessee defenders swore on Saturday that they could hearWilson bellowing at them from the sideline, where he limpedabout in street clothes. Instead of sitting back and waiting forthe likes of Florida and Kentucky to take them apart surgically,the Vols have attacked from the first week of the season.Opponents have averaged less than 100 yards rushing a game andhave scored only five touchdowns on the ground. Tennessee'sdefense would be formidable for any opponent.

The offense has no right to be effective. Peyton Manning was theNo. 1 pick in the NFL draft and the most successful quarterbackin Volunteers history. Wideout Marcus Nash was also taken in thefirst round. Sophomore running back Jamal Lewis, a first-rounderin training, was injured and lost for the season in the fourthgame. Yet sophomores Travis Henry and Travis Stephens haverushed for more than 1,200 yards as Lewis's understudies, andsenior fullback Shawn Bryson, who has a tailback's speed, scoredon a 57-yarder against Florida and a 58-yard run againstKentucky. Bryson played with Manning and company. "This team isdifferent," he says. "There's a feeling that we're all leaningon each other."

In a pinch they lean on Martin, who remains susceptible to fitsof inefficiency (10 for 27, with one interception, againstArkansas) but makes plays. On Saturday he escaped to his rightand threw a 55-yard second-quarter touchdown pass to CedrickWilson. The ball traveled 66 yards on the fly. "Special player,"says Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer. "He can get you out oftrouble."

It should not, of course, be a complete surprise that Tennesseeis at the top of the rankings. The Volunteers' recruiting classeshave been in the top 10 in the country for a decade, andTennessee has won at least nine games in eight of the last nineyears. Fulmer's winning percentage (.853) is the best of anyactive coach. Yet there always seemed to be an Ohio State-likecloud over the Vols, a presumption that they would slipsomewhere.

Don't count on Tennessee to fall this time. "Maybe we're lucky,"says Fulmer, "but I believe breaks even out as time goes by.Turnovers, officials' calls, you name it. We've had bad breaks,too."